Doctoral Dissertation Research: Cultural Models of Riparian Land Use and Management: Environmental Decision-Making and Behavior in Southern Appalachia

乔治亚大学的博士生Sakura Evans将在Ted Gragson博士的指导下，通过研究阿巴拉契亚南部土地所有者管理和决策的社区内部模式，对文化在决策和行为中的作用进行研究。河岸带（靠近水道的地区）是保护栖息地的关键区域，但城市化、农业和家庭土地利用做法导致了河岸生态系统的退化。过去的研究侧重于人类土地利用对河流和河岸健康的影响，但忽视了为导致河岸退化的决策和行为提供信息的认知过程。只专注于修复退化而不了解原因的努力最终将失败。为了调查土地所有者关于其河岸财产的决定背后的文化模型，Evans的研究将使用定性和定量的数据收集和分析方法。人种学方法将包括与土地所有者的半结构化访谈，土地使用历史，溪流和河岸地带的徒步旅行，以及社会人口数据收集。对访谈材料和实地记录的文本分析将为一项文化背景社会调查提供信息，该调查旨在征求土地所有者对河岸条件的看法、对河岸退化的看法以及对河岸保护的支持。这项研究将有助于更好地理解文化中的可变性，同时也揭示了社区内自然环境的共享文化模型。该项目还将支持土地所有者对河岸保护和管理的偏好，这对于在家庭一级扭转有害的土地使用做法，同时在区域一级保护水的质量和数量是必要的。这项研究还将有助于分析Coweeta长期生态研究计划（DEB-0823293） 2008-2014年目标范围内的区域社会生态过程。

University of Georgia doctoral student Sakura Evans, under the supervision of Dr. Ted Gragson, will conduct research on the role of culture in decision-making and behavior by examining intra-community patterns of management and decision-making among landowners in Southern Appalachia. Riparian zones (areas near waterways) are critical areas for habitat preservation, yet urbanization, agriculture, and household land use practices are resulting in the degradation of riparian ecosystems. Past research has focused on the impacts of human land use on stream and riparian health but has overlooked the cognitive processes informing decision-making and behavior that result in riparian degradation. Efforts focused solely on repairing degradation without understanding the causes will ultimately fail. To investigate the cultural models underlying landowners' decisions regarding their riparian property, Evans' research will use qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. Ethnographic methods will include semi-structured interviews with landowners, land-use histories, walking tours of streams and riparian zones, and socio-demographic data collection. Textual analysis of interview material and field notes will inform a culturally contextualized social survey designed to elicit landowners' opinions of riparian conditions, perceptions of riparian degradation, and support for riparian protection.This research will contribute to a greater understanding of the variability found within culture, while also uncovering the shared cultural models of the natural environment within a community. The project will also support landowners' preferences for riparian protection and management, necessary for reversing harmful land use practices at the household level, while also protecting water quality and quantity at the regional level. This research will also contribute to the analysis of regional socio-ecological processes within the scope of the 2008-2014 objectives of the Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research Program (DEB-0823293).